In the town of Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine in Indre-et-Loire, a former service station located along the Nationale 10 has regained its shine and colors, thanks to the mobilization of thirty volunteers from the Nostal10 association. A real adventure for these collector car enthusiasts, who are fueled by the brushstrokes to breathe new life into this building, a symbol of an era.
The gas station is located on the legendary Nationale 10! ©Laurent Carré Facebook
At a time when motorways are full of hurried drivers, national roads continue to be used by travellers who are fans of slower and more sustainable tourism and are curious to discover the beautiful regions of France. Older than the main roads, these secondary roads that crisscross the country evoke many memories for the oldest. They are dotted with places that have become emblematic over the decades.
It is at one of these places, which he considers a heritage treasure, that Laurent Carré, president of l’association Nostal10decides one day to bring it back to life. It is a old gas station located in Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine (Indre-et-Loire), between Tours and Châtellerault, on the Nationale 10 which goes from Paris to the Spanish border. “I walked past it hundreds of times. I couldn’t do nothing to save it.”Laurent Carré tells us.
This history and geography teacher with a passion for cars has joined forces with other vintage car enthusiasts to restore this building and thus help to revitalize the section of the Nationale 10 that passes near his home. “Our goal is to promote the heritage, history and memory of this other great road, he tells us. In France, it is the Nationale 7 (which connects Paris and Avignon via Lyon, editor’s note) which predominates in the imagination of the holiday route. But to go to the Atlantic Coast from the Paris region, it is indeed the Nationale 10 that we take. Or rather that we borrowed. Because since the early 1960s, The Nationale 10 is neglected by motorists, who prefer the A10 motorway.
The gas station closed in the 1980s. ©Laurent Carré Facebook
Laurent Carré began by raising awareness among the mayor of Sainte-Maure-de Touraine. Convinced by this project to restore the old service station, he decided to include it in the PLU (Local Urban Planning Plan). In 2016, The Ministry of Culture labels the building “20th century heritage” in Touraine. The gas station cannot be destroyed. At the same time, Laurent Carré gets in touch with the owners of the plot, who live next door. The latter, who will not spend a cent, agree to the old gas station being renovated and becoming a car gathering place for collectors.
The gas station was designed by the architect Paul Lagneau. ©Municipal archives of Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine.
In 1955, the Huilcombus company obtained authorization to set up a service station on a plot of land on the Nationale 10. A year later, it welcomed its first customers, who it immersed for the duration of a fill-up in an American-style universe, imagined by Paul Lagneau. “In the 1950s, France lived the American dream, remembers Laurent Carré. At that time, there were also many Americans in the region. In Touraine, there were two NATO bases, where American military families lived. France was also experiencing the beginnings of mass consumption and the emergence of American dinners. The United States was a dream, it was synonymous with progress.
Located at the top of a hill, the OZO Bellevue gas station (OZO is a former fuel distribution network brand, editor’s note) is not easily accessible to heavy goods vehicles, which are forced to turn around to refuel. For greater safety, a second service station was opened on the other side of the Nationale 10. In the 1970s, the two stations were bought by Total to form the Relais Charles Martel. They closed their pumps in the early 1980s.
The cost of the work is estimated at 22,000 euros. ©Laurent Carré Facebook
Since 2022, Laurent Carré and the other volunteers of the Nostal10 association have been working to restore this abandoned gas station: waterproofing, painting, glazing, landscaping work… Nothing is left out. All this work has a cost: 22 000 euros, financed largely by the Indre-et-Loire Departmental Council, which designated the Nostal10 project as the winner, alongside three other projects, as part of a call for projects.
“It will never be functional as a gas station again”confirms Laurent Carré. But it doesn’t matter, that’s not the idea. “Our association wants to make it a place of memory, a gathering place that will show future generations, when mobility has changed profoundly, what a service station looked like,” he continues.
Nearly 4,000 people are subscribed to the gas station’s Facebook page! ©Laurent Carré Facebook
Today, 4,000 people follow the adventures of this Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine gas station on Facebook. So as Laurent Carré likes to say, “This is not the Palace of Versailles” but this gas station from another time has no reason to be ashamed of its fame!
